Inverted Totalitarianism

This is a term coined by political philosopher Sheldon Wolin in his book - Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism

I was going to make a long post on this subject, but decided that I couldn't be bothered to make any sensible or coherent posts today. So there you have it. This is what you get instead.

Originally posted by rwingett
This is a term coined by political philosopher Sheldon Wolin in his book - Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism

I was going to make a long post on this subject, but decided that I couldn't be bothered to make any sensible or coherent posts today. So there you have it. This is what you get instead.

200 bucks a pop and no houses or hotels needed.

Now the Utilities are useless.

Originally posted by rwingett
This is a term coined by political philosopher Sheldon Wolin in his book - Democracy Incorporated: Managed Democracy and the Specter of Inverted Totalitarianism

I was going to make a long post on this subject, but decided that I couldn't be bothered to make any sensible or coherent posts today. So there you have it. This is what you get instead.

OK, I did want to make a post on this, so I'll give it a shot now.

Wolin compares and contrasts US "democracy" with Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia and concludes that US, as a superpower, has adopted many totalitarian positions, but that it approaches them from quite a different angle than did the two ex-dictatorships. And...uh..ah, screw it. I'll just copy large chunks of Wikipedia:

There are three main ways in which inverted totalitarianism is the inverted form of classical totalitarianism. First, whereas in Nazi Germany the state dominated economic actors, in inverted totalitarianism corporations and their lobbying dominate the Superpower, with the government acting as the servant of large corporations. This isn't considered corruption, but "normal".

Second, while the Nazi regime aimed at the constant political mobilization of the population, with its Nuremberg rallies, Hitler Youth, and so on, inverted totalitarianism aims for the mass of the population to be in a persistent state of political apathy. The only type of political activity expected or desired from the citizenry is voting. Low electoral turnouts are favorably received as an indication that the bulk of the population has given up hope that the government will ever help them. Third, while the Nazis openly mocked democracy, Superpower maintains the conceit that it is the model of democracy for the whole world.

Wolin calls this form of democracy, which is sanitized of the political, managed democracy. Managed democracy is "a political form in which governments are legitimated by elections that they have learned to control". Under managed democracy, the electorate is prevented from having a significant impact on policies adopted by the state through the continuous employment of public relations techniques.

This brings us to one major respect in which Superpower resembles Nazi Germany without an inversion: the essential role that propaganda plays in the system. Whereas the production of propaganda was crudely centralized in Nazi Germany, in Superpower it is left to highly concentrated media corporations, thus maintaining the illusion of a "free press". Dissent is allowed, although the corporate media serves as a filter, allowing most people, with limited time available to keep themselves apprised of current events, only to hear points of view which the corporate media deems to be "serious".

Alright, I'll respond. I think the piece from wiki is spot on. One thing I'll say, and this might sound naive, is that I think people are becoming more and more aware of this manipulation. I think the tea party and the ows crowd are both responding to the managed democracy.

Originally posted by dryhump
Alright, I'll respond. I think the piece from wiki is spot on. One thing I'll say, and this might sound naive, is that I think people are becoming more and more aware of this manipulation. I think the tea party and the ows crowd are both responding to the managed democracy.